goosebumps are when the body tries to warm the body. by extending the hair follicles, warmth is kept in the body better. it's like your flesh is trying to create its own little sweater...

music has the same effect (as does being scared). the body has a reaction to the stimuli that has been presented and reacts the same way it would for a temperature change. because the music or moive or whatever literally gives you the chills...

The basics - It's a "stress" reaction. "Stress" typically has a negative connation, but that's inaccurate. (Note: I was a "training and development" guy in the corporate world for a while, due to my psych degree; one of my workshops was about "stress").

Let's say you just landed a dream gig and you are excited, in a positive way, about the money/glamour/etc. Your body will have a stress reaction....a "positive" stress reaction in this case.

The reaction goes back to primitive man when "stress reaction" was a simple defensive mechanism. Big changes in primitive man's environment were perceived as "threats." Usually, big changes in that world were "threats", not "dream gigs."

Under stress, negative or positive, our blood is rushing from the skin surface area to the areas where the most primitive area of our brain "thinks" we need it most to deal with the stress - our heart and muscles - the ancient, "fight or flee" defensive mechanism. More blood rushed from the skin surface to the heart & muscles means they have more available oxygen to "fight or flee." Maintaining surface skin temp isn't so important at that moment.

So, our galvanic skin response is a lowered temperature, resulting in "goosebumps." Ever hear of "mood rings"??? They were a fad in the 70's; finger rings that changed color depending on your galvanic skin temp; popular culture oversimplified it and interpreted the color change as an indicator of a person's "mood."

The deal with the body hair standing up??? Well, primitive humans had a hell of a lot more body hair. If it stood up, the chances were better that an attacking animals would get a mouthful of hair rather than a mouthful of flesh. Again, a defensive mechanism.

Originally posted by rickbass The deal with the body hair standing up??? Well, primitive humans had a hell of a lot more body hair. If it stood up, the chances were better that an attacking animals would get a mouthful of hair rather than a mouthful of flesh. Again, a defensive mechanism.

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not to mention that they'd simply look bigger. you still see this in cats, when they arch their backs and their hair stands up.